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Category: Investment Facts

The Ebay Veteran Cashing In On The $369 Billion Returns Boom

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He raised $1.2 million from friends at VC firms True Ventures and Harrison Metal in 2009 and has collected a total of $73 million from investors. “They’re just scratching the surface of what we think is a massive market,” says Pete Jenson, a partner at Spectrum Equity, which led a $65 million Series C round in 2018. Neither he nor the company would discuss the company’s valuation or their ownership stakes other than to confirm that Rosenberg has a minority stake. Based on the one publicly traded competitor, Liquidity Services, the company is likely worth at least $130 million, but that is likely low, given how fast it is growing.

“That is why Spectrum wrote us a check for $65 million. They like big markets,” agrees Rosenberg.

B-Stock isn’t the only option, of course. Washington, D.C.-based Optoro operates one warehouse but these days mostly sells software that helps chains identify the best way to offload unwanted inventory, whether by restocking merchandise, returning it to a vendor, refurbishing, donating or sending it to a secondary marketplace. It also operates Blinq.com, which sells one-off returns to consumers, and Bulq.com, a smaller B2B competitor to B-Stock. Happy Returns installs pop-up receiving sites for chains that have limited brick-and-mortar presence, and Liquidations.com similarly sells excess inventory via auction.

Rosenberg has taken a different tack, putting all of the burden back on the original sellers, who deal with sorting, packing and shipping items to buyers. No inventory risk, no shipping costs and all the pricing decisions are made by the buyers and sellers. Even the warehouses where all that stuff sits in are the domain of retailers or third-party logistics companies. Sellers pay an estimated 5%-to-10% transaction fee based on the amount of merchandise they move through some 175,000 auctions every year. That keeps overhead low–85% of Rosenberg’s costs consist of doling out paychecks–and that, he claims, has helped him produce net profits since the day he started in 2009.

To help retailers get the best price, B-Stock tinkers with things like whether to sell stuff together or separately, how big a lot should be, how long an auction should run, what pictures to use and what day it should close. It also helps leverage the power of brands–trusted retailers can command a 15% premium–with separate marketplaces for each customer.

“There are times when we get bogged down with returns,” says a manager at a Fortune 500 company that has worked with B-Stock for six years and declined to speak on the record. “We needed someone to help us find homes for product that might beforehand been thrown away.”

Who’s buying all this? People like Clayton Cook, 33, who runs three discount stores in Salt Lake City. He spends an hour every morning browsing B-Stock and typically places about 150 to 200 bids for toys, apparel and other items sold by Walmart, Target and Costco. He doesn’t have time to haggle, so he lowballs his bids and figures he will only win a fraction of them. “The biggest plus is that I get it directly from the source. Because of that I get a better variety and a better product,” says Cook, who expects sales of $8 million in 2019. The site has also attracted a lot of eBay and Poshmark sellers, although the company doesn’t keep track of just how many.

That’s not to say the business is hassle-free. The company’s Better Business Bureau page is littered with complaints from unhappy buyers, most of them upset by the actions of a retailer but blaming the middleman as the face of the transaction.

Rosenberg says the marketplace model has allowed him to build the biggest online liquidation business in town, yet he still only lays claim to less than 2% of a liquidation market that totals $100 billion. To continue cashing in on the returns boom, he wants to bring on outside companies who can offer various logistics services, including sorting and shipping, for an extra fee. He also has plenty of new business to chase: Only 18 of the top 100 retailers in the country are working with B-Stock, plus his current customers could be liquidating even more stuff through his platform.

“It’s a huge opportunity,” says Rosenberg. “And a really, really big market.”

COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY AARON KOTOWSKI FOR FORBES.

Get Forbes’ daily top headlines straight to your inbox for news on the world’s most important entrepreneurs and superstars, expert career advice and success secrets.

Lauren Debter

I am a staff writer at Forbes covering retail. I’m particularly interested in entrepreneurs who are finding success in a tough and changing landscape. I have been at Forbes since 2013, first on the markets and investing team and most recently on the billionaires team. In the course of my reporting, I have interviewed the father of Indian gambling, the first female billionaire to enter the space race and the immigrant founder of one of the nation’s most secretive financial upstarts. My work has also appeared in Money Magazine and CNNMoney.com. Tips or story ideas? Email me at ldebter@forbes.com.

Source: The Ebay Veteran Cashing In On The $369 Billion Returns Boom

 

 

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How to Determine Exactly How Much Money You Need to Push Your Business to the Next Level

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Too often, entrepreneurs–especially inexperienced ones–take the “luxury” approach to funding, incorporating every bell and whistle into their expansion plan by trying to accomplish all goals at one time. That’s nice, but it’s usually not reality and often forces businesses to be cash strapped because of high debt repayments.

That’s why I suggest entrepreneurs take a three-pronged approach to their expansion planning. This exercise helps businesspeople ruthlessly prioritize their needs and determine what is a must and what is frivolous.

A, then B, then C

Let’s say an entrepreneur believes he or she needs $1 million to make their expansion plans a reality.

Now, write up a plan for that amount. What are you going to do with that million? What are the specific investments you will make? What will your cash flow look like afterward? What does your business, in general, look like?

Now do the same exercise with $500,000. Ask yourself the same questions, as well as anything else that’s pertinent. Can you primarily accomplish the same goals with half the cash?

Finally, do the exercise one more time, this time with a loan of only $250,000. What are the answers to the questions now? Might it be possible to do what you want to do with only a quarter of the original loan?

And the answer is…

No set answer will be correct.

Perhaps your initial inclination that you need $1 million was correct. And there’s a good chance that $250,000 simply won’t get the job done.

But there is a decent probability that the middle option might be feasible, especially if it makes you realize that some of the more frivolous “wish list” things you’d like to do are best set aside for now. Remember, you don’t have to accomplish everything at once, and a scaled-down plan might allow you to better focus on more important things, preventing you from overextending yourself.

Of course, don’t get too stuck on exact numbers. Maybe this exercise will have you realize your plan can go ahead effectively for $790,000. Or $615,000. Or $485,000. Or any other number.

The purpose is to gain some clarity and sharpen your focus–not to mention to allow you to decide what makes you most comfortable and enables you to sleep at night. Don’t underestimate the value of that.

Also, keep in mind the time factor. The larger the loan you seek, the longer it likely will take to receive approval from a lender. The saying “time is money” always rings true, especially in this scenario. You might miss opportunities waiting for lender approval.

Remember, business tends to be more of a marathon than a sprint. You need to pace yourself in all aspects, including financing, to better your odds of finishing the race. Hopefully, this exercise helps you accomplish that.

By Ami KassarCEO, MultiFunding.com @amikassar

 

Source: How to Determine Exactly How Much Money You Need to Push Your Business to the Next Level

TED
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Trust: How do you earn it? Banks use credit scores to determine if you’re trustworthy, but there are about 2.5 billion people around the world who don’t have one to begin with — and who can’t get a loan to start a business, buy a home or otherwise improve their lives. Hear how TED Fellow Shivani Siroya is unlocking untapped purchasing power in the developing world with InVenture, a start-up that uses mobile data to create a financial identity. “With something as simple as a credit score,” says Siroya, “we’re giving people the power to build their own futures.” TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more. Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at http://www.ted.com/translate Follow TED news on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tednews Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDtalksD…

Toxic Signs Of A Multifamily Investment

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When investing in multifamily properties, there are other factors outside the cap rate, P&L, rent rolls and cash on cash that you should consider. In fact, the numbers, although highly critical in your analysis, are only a portion of what should dictate the decision to proceed. As you begin your due diligence period, you may want to consider these other potential pitfalls before you seal the deal.

What To Look For

The pulse of a multifamily investment doesn’t always come from what the books are saying. In fact, if you fail to investigate the day-to-day culture of tenants and demeanor of the current property, you could be in for a big surprise.

Unless you have the privilege of being one of the few investors that can walk into a new property and completely clean house and not worry about cash flow, these indicators may be warning signs of a much deeper-rooted problem that may not be worth the investment.

• Excessive wear of interior of units: Normal wear and tear is one thing, but severe deferred maintenance found amongst a higher percentage of units could be a telling sign of trouble. Outside issues found in inspections, walking each unit is by far one of the most effective ways to determine if this is an issue.

• Consistent negative feedback from tenants: The key here is listing any repetitive, serious issues that keep coming up and being able to discern from the minor issues. Talking to tenants is a great resource for information, and you should capitalize on the opportunity while you are walking each unit. Understanding that tenants have no real incentive to speak anything but the truth typically makes the feedback more reliable and genuine.

• High traffic at night: How a property operates at night is another piece of the puzzle you may want to consider when analyzing a multifamily investment. Typically, during the day, people are at work and there is not much activity. A visit at night can give you the insight you may need to see if the safety of the property is adequate or not. Extremely high traffic at night could be a potential indicator of crime, but, more importantly, it can be a deterrent for future tenants.

• The unhappiness of tenants: Are the tenants unhappy or happy? It might seem like a silly question at first; however, the crux of the sustainability and future of the investment can lie within the answer. Do you see more positive feedback than negative? If this answer is no, you may want to find out why and see if the solutions are in line with the budget and the vision of the investment. Solutions to these issues could be as simple as a more secure entry room door or better lighting outside the walkways. However, if it’s due to criminal behavior or domestic issues in the complex, this can help open your eyes to the entire picture and consider factors the numbers fail to disclose.

As investors scream through the numbers, it’s easy to bypass the human side of the transaction. Where the human component of multifamily should be considered just as crucial to the decision, it’s not uncommon to be an afterthought or one of the lower priorities of the analysis. Focusing solely on the bottom line and not taking this factor into consideration is a recipe for disaster.

The damage that a toxic culture in a property can do is much more impactful because it not only affects the individual, it can spread to the entire community. You can fix a leaky sink, a broken heater or clean up the landscaping, but not addressing these issues can take a major strain on the investment if you’re not prepared.

Forbes Real Estate Council is an invitation-only community for executives in the real estate industry. Do I qualify?
Alex Vasquez Alex Vasquez

Owner and Qualifying Broker at Rhino Realty Property Management and Rhino Realty B&B, entrepreneur, investor, advisor, author and speaker. Read Alex Vasquez’ full executive profile here.

Source: Council Post: Toxic Signs Of A Multifamily Investment

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http://www.biggerpockets.com – The 50% Rule is a great tool for quickly estimating the potential cash flow from a real estate investment. This video will walk you step by step through the math and show you how quickly and easily a cash flow estimate can be – for any size real estate investment.

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Education

Don’t Give Your Kids An Inheritance, Give This Instead

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What Can Be Better Than An Inheritance? A Personal Matching Program

Getting an inheritance can be a good thing – or a bad thing.

While Millennials may wish their inheritance will someday pay for their retirement, that may or may not happen. According to a 2018 Charles Schwab Study, more than half (53%) of young people ages 16-25, “believe their parents will leave them an inheritance, versus the average 21% of people who actually received an inheritance of any kind.”

And, if they do receive an inheritance when they are close to retirement, that may not help them. It turns out that one out of three Baby Boomers who received an inheritance spent it within two years, according to research conducted by Dr. Jay Zagorsky, Senior Lecturer at Boston University Questrom School of Business, based on data from the Federal Reserve and a National Longitudinal Survey funded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that studied the period 1985-2008.

A Better Option: A Savings Program With A Kick

Wouldn’t it be a better option to help youthful members of the family set up a savings program with a kick to it – a match that you arrange to ignite interest, leverage time and boost returns through compounding?

Let’s say your son “Steve” is a 20-year-old college student who lives at home with you. Steve has a part-time job during the school year and works full time over summer breaks.

Steve hasn’t developed a rule set for saving money. He is not eligible for a 401(k) at work. He is not thinking about a far-off retirement, but he believes he might benefit from a nice inheritance, probably just when he might need the money when he retires.

As Steve’s Mom or Dad, you know better. You’d like Steve to learn how to become financially secure in his own right.

Let’s Make A Deal

Here’s how you can help. You make a deal with Steve:

“For every dollar you save, I will match you dollar-for dollar for five years. But there is a catch. My match goes into a retirement plan for you, a Roth IRA, that you must agree not to touch until you retire someday in the far away future.” 

That gives Steve something to think about. If he saved, say $500 a month of his own money, he would have $30,000 of savings in five years. He would also have an additional $30,000 funded by his parents in a Roth IRA that he would agree not to touch. Nothing wrong with that deal. . . But what about the constraint on not using that Roth money until retirement?

Maximizing Roth Limits While Avoiding Gift Taxes

That $500 monthly ($6,000 yearly) figure is magical.

It is the maximum ($6,000) that can be contributed to a Roth IRA per year, the annual limit for funding a Roth, according to the IRS.

It also happens to avoid a gift tax obligation (the parents’ match is a gift). Since $6,000 is well under the $15,000 annual exclusion, Steve’s parents would not be subject to gift taxes for funding the Roth. (Read “IRS Announces High Estate And Gift Tax Limits For 2020.”)

Will Steve Accept The Offer?

For Steve to see the full potential of the matching program, you’ll want to show him what the Roth can accomplish over the decades between now (age 20) and age 65, a period of 45 years. The Roth will need to be invested for long-term capital appreciation potential. The best way to do that is through a simple S&P 500 Index Fund.

What If The 45 Years Turn Out To Be Terrible Markets?

This is where history comes in handy.

For skeptics, we can look at the worst performing 45 year market periods since the 1920s. For the optimists, we can review the best. While history will not repeat itself exactly, history does provide a frame of reference.

Let’s go back in time to see the worst outcome for a five year program of monthly investments in an S&P 500 Index Fund with a 45 year horizon.

That 45-year period ended with the Financial Crisis (1963-2008).

Had Steve started his five-year, $500 a month program ($30,000 invested) at the worst of times, his age 65 value would have grown to $1,192,643, an average annual return of 9%.

What If The Next 45 Years Turn Out To Be Terrific Markets?

If Steve had lucked into the best 45 year period (1946-1991), he would have had $4,368,046 at age 65 (highest 45-year holding period), an average annual return of 12.4%.

What If Returns Are Just Average?

What about the median return (1931-1976)? Steve would have had $2,421,743 at age 65, an average annual return of 10.9%.

What If Steve Wanted Safety Over Capital Appreciation?

If Steve had been very conservative, he may have considered the safest option, a money market fund that tracked 90 day T-Bills. The best 45-year period for money market funds (1956-2001) would given Steve an age-65 retirement nest egg of only $356,519, a 6% average annual return.

You can see these comparisons graphically in the chart below.

The point is this: Steve can’t control what type of market he will experience. But history can give him a frame of reference.

Is Steve Convinced?

To accept his parent’s matching proposal, Steve needs to see the benefit of investing in himself (and having others invest in him through the match). His interest needs to be ignited through the math behind the market, the math that leverages time and boosts returns through compounding.

Your Role As A Parent

As we approach the holidays, there will be opportunities to get together with young adults in your family. Why not impart some sage advice – in fact, not just once, but as often as possible.

Your Advice

Start saving now in a Roth IRA. Fund your 401(k) at work as soon as you become eligible; contribute each payroll period without stopping until you retire; maximize your match. Choose investments based on long-term capital appreciation potential. Take advantage of the math of compounding. And, if a parent or family member is willing to match your savings, go for it.

Survey Question

After reading this post, what is the likelihood that you will make a Roth matching proposal with your child, grandchild, niece or nephew? I’d like to know what you think. Click here to take a quick survey.

Look for my next post on what happens when someone in Steve’s position starts contributing to his 401(k) at work.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM

I got my start on Wall Street as a lawyer before moving to money management more than 25 years ago. My firm, Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers, Inc. (www.jacksongrant.us) of Stamford, CT, is a fiduciary high-net-worth boutique specializing in managing retirement portfolios. I approach investing with a blend of optimism (everyone can do something to improve their financial situations) and a dose of healthy skepticism (don’t invest unless you understand what can go wrong). These themes describe my “voice” whether on-air (NBC Nightly News, CNBC, NPR) or presenting (AARP, AAII, BetterInvesting) or in print. I began writing in earnest in 1996 (You and Your 401(k), an investor’s view of 401(k)s). Recent books are: Retire Securely (2018), offering concise action-oriented insights for retirees, pre-retirees and Millennials (Excellence in Financial Literacy Award “EIFLE”); The Retirement Survival Guide (2009/2017), a comprehensive tool chest for all financial levels and ages (EIFLE Award); and Managing Retirement Wealth (2011/2017), a guide for high net worth individuals (EIFLE Award). I’ve written over 1,000 weekly columns (Clarion Award, syndicated by King Features). When the time is right, I comment on SEC rule proposals.

Source: Don’t Give Your Kids An Inheritance, Give This Instead

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This is Stock Market For Beginners 2019 edition video! This video should help out all beginners in the stock market who want to know how to invest in the stock market in 2019. I try to do a stock market for beginners video each year and this is the 2019 edition. We will discuss how to buy stocks, where to buy stocks, how much money do you need to buy stocks, how to invest in the stock market, what is the best brokerage for buying stocks and so much more. I hope you get a tremendous amount of value out of this stock market for beginners video today. Enjoy! Learn How I pick Stocks in this course linked below. Enjoy! https://bit.ly/2DT5ER9 Learn How To Make Money From Trading Stock Options Here https://bit.ly/2QaHSX6 To join my private stock group click below. https://bit.ly/2OSUMDS * My Instagram is : FinancialEducationJeremy Financial Education Channel Sign Up to Get The Top 5 Investing Apps I Use And How I Use Them http://bit.ly/jeremystop5

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Education

3 Purchases or Investments You Can Make to Save Money on Your Business Taxes

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With a little over one month to go in 2019, small business owners should think about purchases or investments that make good business sense and will give them a break on their taxes.

Owners with available cash and a wish list should consider what equipment they need. Or, do they want to create a retirement plan or make a big contribution to an existing one? If they have home offices, are there repairs or improvements that can be done by Dec. 31? But owners should also remember the advice from tax professionals: Don’t make a decision based on saving on taxes. Any big expenditure should be made because it fits with your ongoing business strategy.

A look at some possible purchases or investments:

Need a PC or SUV?

Small businesses can deduct up-front as much as $1,020,000 in equipment, vehicles and many other types of property under what’s known as the Section 179 deduction. Named for part of the federal tax code, it’s aimed at helping small companies expand by accelerating their tax breaks. Larger businesses have to deduct property expenses under depreciation rules.

There is a wide range of property that can be deducted under Section 179 including computers, furniture, machinery, vehicles and building improvements like roofs and heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems. But to be deducted, the equipment has to be operational, or what the IRS calls in service, by Dec. 31. So a PC that’s up and running or an SUV that’s already in use can be deducted, but if that HVAC system has been ordered but not yet delivered or set up, it can’t be deducted.

It’s OK to buy the equipment and use it but not pay for it by year-end — even if a business buys the property on credit, the full purchase price can be deducted.

You can learn more on the IRS website, www.irs.gov. Search for Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization, and the instructions for the form.

Home Office Repairs

Owners who run their businesses out of their homes and want to do some repairs, painting or redecorating may be able to get a deduction for the work. If the home office or work space itself is getting a makeover, those costs may be completely deductible. If the whole house is getting a new roof or furnace, then part of the costs can be deducted.

To claim the deduction, an owner can use a formula set by the IRS. The owner determines the percentage of a residence that is exclusively and regularly used for business. That percentage is applied to actual expenses on the home including repairs and renovation and costs such as mortgage or rent, taxes, insurance and maintenance.

There’s an alternate way to claim the deduction — the owner computes the number of square feet dedicated to the business, up to 300 square feet, and multiplies that number by $5 to arrive at the deductible amount. However, repairs or renovations cannot be included in this calculation.

Owners should remember that the home office deduction can only be taken if the office or work area is exclusively used for the business — setting up a desk in a corner of the family room doesn’t quality. And it must be your principal place of business. More information is available on www.irs.gov; search for Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home.

Retirement Plans

Owners actually have more than a month to set up or contribute to an employee retirement plans — while some can still be set up by Dec. 31, plans known as Simplified Employee Pensions, or SEPs, can be set up as late as the filing deadline for the owner’s return. If the owner gets a six-month extension of the April 15 filing deadline, a SEP can be set up as late as Oct. 15, 2020, and still qualify as a deduction for the 2019 tax year.

Similarly, contributions to any employee retirement plan can be made as late as Oct. 15, 2020, as long as the owner obtained an extension. This means owners can decide well into next year how much money they want to contribute, and in turn, how big a deduction they can take for the contribution.

You can learn more at www.irs.gov. Search for Publication 560, Retirement Plans for Small Business.

–The Associated Press

By Joyce M. Rosenberg AP Business Writer

Source: 3 Purchases or Investments You Can Make to Save Money on Your Business Taxes

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Education

 

Silicon Valley Investors Are Bonkers For European Startups

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Index Ventures partner Danny Rimer always planned to move back to London from Silicon Valley. But when Rimer returned to England a year ago after seven years establishing Index’s U.S. foothold with stakes in companies like Dropbox, Etsy and Slack, he had company: investors from U.S. venture capital firms Benchmark, NEA and Sequoia were also appearing at startup dinners, leading deals and even looking to open offices.

“We’ve always been surprised at how our U.S. peers flew over Europe,” says the Canada-born and Switzerland-raised Rimer, 49, who opened Index’s London office in 2002. As a full-time European resident again, he debuts at No. 3 on the 2019 Midas List Europe, thanks to multi-national investments including Discord, Glossier, Farfetch and Squarespace. Rimer says he watched as investors flocked to pour money into India, China, and Latin American countries, instead. “A very successful Welshman talked about Europe being a museum,” says Rimer, alluding to billionaire investor Michael Moritz, the Sequoia partner and Google and Yahoo investor who moved from Wales to Silicon Valley decades ago. “Now his firm is all over the geo looking.”

More money is flowing into European tech than ever, and it’s increasingly coming from venture capital’s elite U.S. firms. European startups are likely to receive a record $34.3 billion in investments this year, according to investment firm Atomico, with 19% of funding rounds including an American firm, double the portion when Atomico started tracking in 2015. Those American investors will account for about $10 billion, or nearly one-third, of the total amount invested.

American interest in European companies isn’t new: Palo Alto, California-founded Accel opened a London office nearly twenty years ago, and other firms followed suit. But many retreated in subsequent economic down cycles, says Philippe Botteri, No. 6 on Midas List Europe. Botteri, a French citizen, started his venture career at Bessemer Venture Partners in San Francisco and joined Accel in London in 2011. The years leading up to the U.S. firms’ return witnessed a global economic crisis, while access to customers, engineering talent and programs like startup accelerator Y Combinator drove a host of European founders, such as Stripe’s Collison brothers, to relocate to the U.S. Considered a splintered market with regional regulations and languages, Europe faced a fresh hurdle with “Brexit,” when the United Kingdom voted in a 2016 referendum to leave the European Union, a process still ongoing. Its ruling body, the European Union, has made an anchor policy of challenging big tech companies on how they use data.

Blossom Capital founder Ophelia Brown says she was met with incredulity when, as a young investor at Index Ventures between 2012 and 2016, she visited West Coast counterparts and described the opportunity in European tech. “Everyone would push back: Europe was a little travel, a little ecommerce, a little gaming,” she says. “They felt there was nothing of substance.” In 2017, when she set out to raise Blossom’s first fund, many U.S. investors told her the opportunity for new firms seemed greater in the U.S. and China. Just two years later, Brown says she now hears from institutions asking how to get more exposure to Europe’s startup scene.

What’s changed: A mix of high-profile public offerings such as Adyen and Spotify and a maturing ecosystem that’s made it a much easier draw for U.S. firms, facing intense competition at home, to risk millions in Europe. Spotify, the Stockholm-based music streaming service that went public via direct listing in April 2018, and Adyen, the Amsterdam-based payments company that went public two months later, have created nearly $50 billion in combined market value. The IPOs of Criteo in Paris and Farfetch in London have also produced a network of millionaires primed to write “angel investor” personal checks into smaller tech companies. Today there are 99 unicorns, or companies valued at one billion dollars or more, compared to 22 in 2015, according to Atomico’s data.

“The question used to be, can Europe generate a $1 billion outcome, and then you had Spotify and Adyen creating tens of billions of market cap,” says Botteri, who notes that winners are also coming from a broader base of cities in Europe – 12 hubs, not all from London and Tel Aviv. (As on the Midas List Europe, European investors often include Israel’s tech-heavy startup scene.) “Now the question is, can Europe generate a $100 billion company? And my answer is, just give it a few years.”

For startups in far-flung places like Tallinn, Estonia, where Pipedrive was founded in 2010, or Bucharest, where UiPath got its start, the influx of U.S. venture capital counts for more than just money – it means access to former operators who helped scale businesses like Facebook, Google and Slack, introductions to customers in New York or executive hires in San Francisco. And with their stamps of approval comes buzz that can still kickstart a startup’s brand recognition, investors say.

But they also come with a risk: heightened pressure to deliver, board members who may be 5,000 miles away, and potentially overheated valuations that can prove onerous should a founder misstep. Sarah Noeckel, a London-based investor at Dawn Capital and the publisher of women-in-tech newsletter Femstreet, has tracked a number of recent seed-stage deals in which a U.S. investor swooped in with an offer too rich for local alternatives to match, for companies that sometimes haven’t sold anything yet. “I think there’s little validation at this point how it actually plays out for them,” she says.

For the U.S. investors, there’s a clear financial incentive to “swoop in.” On average over the past year, one dollar’s worth of equity in a European startup in a Series A funding round would have cost $1.60 in the U.S. for a comparable share, according to the Atomico report. Investors insist that for the most in-demand companies in Europe, such as London-based travel startup Duffel, which raised $30 million from Index Ventures in October, prices already match Silicon Valley highs.

All the more reason that as U.S. investors hunt in Europe like never before, they’re doing so quietly. Though Lightspeed Venture Partners announced its hiring of a London-based partner, Rytis Vitkauskas, in October, other U.S. firms have been on the ground without advertising it publicly. Leaders from NEA, with $20 billion in assets under management, passed through London in recent weeks on a venture capital tour as the firm plans to invest more heavily in Europe moving forward, sources say. Sequoia partners Matt Miller and Pat Grady, meanwhile, have been spotted around town meeting with potential job candidates. (Sequoia’s never employed a staffer in Europe before.) NEA and Sequoia declined to comment.

“Everyone would push back: Europe was a little travel, a little ecommerce, a little gaming. They felt there was nothing of substance.”

Blossom Capital founder Ophelia Brown

Many more U.S. investors now pass through London; some even stretch the meaning of what it means to visit a city through months-long stays. “I always used to have to travel to the West Coast to see friends that I made from the show,” says Harry Stebbings, who has interviewed hundreds of U.S. venture capitalists on his popular podcast, ‘The Twenty Minute VC.’ “Now, every week I can see three to five VCs in London visiting.” For the past several months, longtime Silicon Valley-based Accel partner Ping Li has lived in London with his family. Asked if he’d moved to the city without any public announcement, Li demurred – “I would argue that I’m spending a lot of time on British Airways,” he says – before insisting he plans to return to California in three to six months. “I don’t think you can actually be a top-tier venture capital firm without being global,” he says. Firms without plans for a permanent presence in London are creating buzz among local investors, too. Kleiner Perkins investors Mamoon Hamid and Ilya Fushman have been active in Europe recently, they confirm. Benchmark, the firm behind Snap and Uber, invested in Amsterdam-founded open-source software maker Elastic, which went public in 2018, and more recently London-based Duffel and design software maker Sketch, based in The Hague. “Europe’s just more in the spotlight now,” partner Chetan Puttagunta says.

Against the backdrop of Brexit, the inbound interest can feel like a surprise. London-based investors, however, appear to be shrugging off concerns and hoping for the best. “In and of itself, it means nothing,” says Index Ventures’ Martin Mignot, a French and British citizen investing in London and No. 7 on the Midas List Europe. “The only real question is around talent, whether it’s going to be more difficult for people to come and work in London, but how difficult that is remains to be seen.” Or as his colleague Rimer quips: “Having spent seven years in the U.S., I don’t exactly think the political climate of the U.S. was necessarily more welcoming.”

When Rimer attended the Slush conference, a tech conference of 25,000 in Helsinki in November, he brought along a guest: Dylan Field, the CEO of buzzy San Francisco-based design software maker Figma. If Field were European, Index would be leading him around Silicon Valley; instead, with 80% of Figma’s business outside of the U.S., Rimer wanted Field to experience the energy of Europe’s tech community first-hand. Explains Rimer: “It’s just a reflection of the reality today.”

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Alex Konrad

I’m an associate editor at Forbes covering venture capital, cloud and enterprise software out of New York. I edit the Midas List, Midas List Europe, Cloud 100 list and 30 Under 30 for VC. I’m a Fortune Magazine and WNYC alum. My tech focus would’ve perplexed my college self, as I studied medieval history and archaeology at Harvard University. Follow me on Twitter at @alexrkonrad and email me at akonrad@forbes.com. Securely share tips at https://www.forbes.com/tips/

Source: Silicon Valley Investors Are Bonkers For European Startups

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Measuring The Total Economic Impact Of Unified Endpoint Management

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Today, the average IT organization is spending at least 5% of their organization’s annual revenue on IT investments – and the cost of each investment spans far beyond its price tag. Each one needs to be deployed and maintained by IT staff that is grappling with more tools and software products than ever before. Of course, supporting an IT staff comes with its own set of costs and challenges. CIOs, CTOs, and their teams are human resource scarce and spread extremely thin, so the opportunity cost of focusing on one tool versus another has never been greater.

This complexity comes at a time where clearly defined IT strategies that bring about positive impact to the business are non-negotiable. According to IDG’s 2019 State of the CIO report, “62% of CIOs say that the creation of new revenue generating initiatives is among their job responsibilities.” 88% claim to be “more involved in leading digital transformation initiatives compared to their business counterparts.” Net-net, the onus is on IT leaders to streamline efficiencies, reduce total cost of ownership (TCO), and net a return on investment (ROI) for the business.

IT investment decisions driven by real customer data

Forrester has been instrumental in helping business decision-makers overcome their resource, budget, and investment challenges by introducing a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) methodology. Not only does the TEI take costs and benefits into account, but also the time saved and economic impact of strategic decisions made. Forrester’s TEI assessments are drawn from real client experiences with vendor products and services. The team diligently documents customer outcomes to better understand their positive or negative business impact. Consulting this unique research methodology helps business decision makers justify and future-proof their investments.

Making the transition to unified endpoint management

If your organization is like most, it has a mix of devices that employees use to get work done – whether they’re corporate-liable or supported under a bring your own device (BYOD) program. With 464 custom apps deployed across the average enterprise, procuring a means to manage devices and everything on them (not just apps, but also content and data) has become mission-critical for businesses.

Traditionally, mobile device management (MDM), enterprise mobility management (EMM), and client management tools (CMTs) have been relied upon to get the job done. However, business use cases for devices have become more complex and wide ranging. These shifts are necessitating a tool that makes it possible to manage everything from one place. This is unified endpoint management (UEM).

Commissioned by IBM, Forrester Consulting recently conducted a TEI analysis of IBM Security MaaS360 UEM customers to determine whether they are reducing TCO and netting a quick break-even on their investment. The Forrester team took the time to glean feedback from 19 MaaS360 UEM clients representing financial services, nonprofit, utilities, manufacturing, and professional services industries. These individuals are responsible for managing anywhere from 500 to 100,000 devices for their respective businesses each day.

How UEM from IBM resulted in significant ROI1

Across the 19 clients that were interviewed, Forrester identified the following key benefits. These amount to a three-year 160% ROI and payback in less than 3 months:

  • Endpoint configuration: a 96% reduction in time spend provisioning devices
  • End-user setup: a 47% reduction in time spent getting employees up and running
  • Modern management: $22,960 saved from simplifying their management approach
  • Support ticket remediation: 50% fewer tickets and 55% less time taken to resolve them
  • Security breach remediation: 80% reduction in number of incidents experienced

Of course, these benefits were experienced by a composite organization used to represent the 19 customers surveyed by Forrester. Organizations considering UEM that are actively seeking their own customized TEI assessment can now work with IBMers to do just that. Request your own complementary assessment today to understand whether you can expect a return on your UEM investment, and if so, how quickly you can expect your payback period to arrive.

Request a custom Forrester TEI assessment now

1 The Total Economic Impact™ Of IBM MaaS360 With Watson, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting, April 2019

John Harrington John Harrington

John Harrington is a Program Director at IBM Security, overseeing product marketing for data security and unified endpoint management (UEM). In this capacity, he works with product managers, product marketers, and account managers to provide guidance for businesses encountering modern cybersecurity challenges. He’s focused on helping clients learn how to establish digital trust and the various ways Guardium and MaaS360 can help them keep their data and endpoints protected. John is also working towards an MBA graduate degree at Villanova School of Business, and spends his spare time exploring the city of Philadelphia with his wife and their two beagles.

Source: IBM Security BrandVoice: Measuring The Total Economic Impact Of Unified Endpoint Management

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20 Stocks That Could Double Your Money in 2020

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It might be hard to believe, but in just seven weeks we’ll be saying our goodbyes to 2019. Although investors have endured a couple of short-lived rough patches, it’s been an exceptionally strong year for the stock market. The broad-based S&P 500 is up 23%, the iconic Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 18%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has returned almost 27%.

How good are these returns? Well, let’s just say that the S&P 500, inclusive of dividends and when adjusted for inflation, has historically returned 7% annually, with the Dow closer to 5.7% a year, on average, over its 123-year history.

And it’s not just these indexes that stand out. Of companies with a market cap of $300 million or larger, 124 have gained at least 100% year to date, through Nov. 5. Just because the calendar is about to change over to a new year doesn’t mean this optimism can’t carry over.

If you’re looking for a number of intriguing investment ideas for next year, consider these 20 stocks as possible candidates to double your money in 2020.

1. Innovative Industrial Properties

Yes, cannabis real estate investment trusts (REIT) are a real thing, and they can be quite lucrative! Innovative Industrial Properties (NYSE:IIPR), the best-known marijuana REIT on Wall Street, is already profitable and growing at a lightning-quick pace. After beginning 2019 with 11 medical marijuana-growing and processing properties in its portfolio, it now owns 38 properties in 13 states that span 2.8 million square feet of rentable space.

The beauty of Innovative industrial Properties’ business model is that it creates highly predictable cash flow. The company’s weighted-average remaining lease term is 15.6 years, and its average current yield on its $403.3 million in invested capital is a cool 13.8%. At this rate, it’ll net a complete payback on its invested capital in just over five years.

As long as marijuana remains illicit at the federal level in the U.S., access to capital will be dicey for cannabis cultivators. That makes Innovative Industrial’s acquisition-and-lease model a veritable green rush gold mine for 2020.

A user pinning interests to a virtual board while using a tablet.

Image source: Pinterest.

2. Pinterest

If you missed out on the Facebook IPO and have been kicking yourself for the past seven years, don’t fret. Social media photo-sharing site Pinterest (NYSE:PINS), which allows users to create their own virtual boards based on their interests, could be your second chance to profit.

Like most brand-name social media sites, Pinterest has seen exceptionally strong user growth. Monthly active user (MAU) count rose to 322 million by the end of September, up 71 million from the prior-year period. What’s most notable about this growth is that it’s mostly coming from international markets (38% MAU growth vs. 8% in the U.S.). Even though ad-based revenue is minimal in foreign markets, it nevertheless demonstrates that Pinterest has global appeal.

The company is also making serious strides to monetize these users by boosting average revenue per user (ARPU) globally. In recent quarters, Pinterest has simplified its ad system for smaller businesses, focused its efforts on boosting ARPU in overseas markets, and pushed for video, which has a much higher repost rate than static images. These efforts appear to be paying early dividends, with international ARPU more the doubling to $0.13 from $0.06 over the past year.

With Pinterest forecast to push into recurring profitability next year, a doubling of its stock is certainly not out of the question.

A biotech lab researcher using multiple pipettes to fill test tubes.

Image source: Getty Images.

3. Intercept Pharmaceuticals

Never overlook a first-mover advantage — especially when it pertains to a $35 billion indication!

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a liver disease that affects between 2% and 5% of all U.S. adults, has no cure or Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved treatments, and is expected to be the leading cause of liver transplants by the midpoint of the next decade. And according to Wall Street, it’s a $35 billion untapped disease.

In late September, Intercept Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ICPT) submitted a new drug application for Ocaliva, a treatment for NASH. While the high dose of Ocaliva did lead to an unsettling number of pruritus (itching)-based dropouts in late-stage studies, it also produced a statistically significant reduction in liver fibrosis levels, relative to baseline and the placebo, without a worsening in NASH at the 18-month mark. Even if Intercept’s Ocaliva only secures a small subset of the NASH market, it has the potential, if approved by the FDA, to quickly earn blockbuster status of $1 billion or more in annual sales. Suffice it to say that 2020 could be a banner year for this midcap biotech stock.

A Redfin for sale sign on the front lawn of a home, with a black sold sign attached.

Image source: Redfin.

4. Redfin

With interest rates and mortgage rates on the rise throughout much of 2018, it looked as if the fun had come to an end for a hot housing market. But following a trio of Federal Reserve rate cuts and a big drop in Treasury yields, the housing industry is hotter than it’s been in more than a year. That, along with low mortgage rates, could be the perfect recipe for online real estate brokerage company Redfin (NASDAQ:RDFN) to double in 2020.

Unlike some of the companies you’ll see on this list, profitability isn’t a near-term priority for Redfin. Rather, scaling its tech-driven platform and taking real estate service market share are its primary goals. One way Redfin is doing this is by undercutting traditional real estate agents with its salaried agents. With a listing fee of just 1%, Redfin cuts out costs that generally irritate buyers and sellers.

More so, Redfin is looking to infiltrate the high-margin servicing business to make the buying and selling experience less of a hassle. It’s expanding nationally and consolidating tasks, such as title, appraisal, and home inspection, into a single package that consumers can designate the company to handle, thereby removing a key buying or selling objection. Perhaps it’s no surprise that this real estate disruptor grew sales by 39% in the second quarter and saw its market share rise 11 basis points to 0.94% of U.S. existing home sales from Q1 2019.

Two smiling young women texting on their smartphones.

Image source: Getty Images.

5. Meet Group

The online dating industry is worth, by some accounts, $3 billion in annual revenue, and Meet Group (NASDAQ:MEET), which specializes in livestreaming and social media interaction (including online dating), is a company that growth and value investors should be swiping right on.

Whereas most of the tech world focuses on bigger names with broader brand recognition, Meet Group’s mobile portfolio of apps, which includes MeetMe, Lovoo, Skout, Tagged, and Growl, has done an admirable job of growing the business. More specifically, the company’s laser focus on bolstering its video business is really paying dividends. During the second quarter, daily active video users increased to 892,000, representing 21% of total users where Live is available on their app. This is important given that video revenue per daily active user grew to $0.26 in Q2 2019 from $0.15 in the prior-year quarter.

Furthermore, Meet Group’s big spending on security enhancements is now in the rearview mirror, according to a third-quarter preliminary update. This mobile livestreaming site is growing at a double-digit rate, has a focus on high-margin video, and sports a forward price-to-earnings ratio of eight (yes, eight!). This multiple, and stock, could both easily double and still have room to run.

A prescription drug capsule with a boxing glove coming out of it that's knocking out a cancer cell.

Image source: Getty Images.

6. Exelixis

In all fairness, Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) has had an incredible run on the coattails of lead drug Cabometyx. Following its approval to treat second-line renal cell carcinoma (RCC), and first-line RCC, the company’s share price rose from $4 to $32 between Jan. 2016 and Jan. 2018. Now, back at $16, Wall Street is wondering, what’s next?

In the early months of 2020, Exelixis and partner Bristol-Myers Squibb may have that answer. The duo are expected to reveal results from the CheckMate 9ER late-stage trial that combines Cabometyx with Bristol-Myers’ blockbuster immunotherapy Opdivo, which also happens to be an RCC rival. If this combination therapy dazzles, the duo could snag an even greater share of the RCC market, further boosting Cabometyx’s case as a blockbuster drug.

Investors should also know that Exelixis offers a rare value proposition in the highly competitive and often money-losing biotech space. This is a company offering double-digit sales growth, a forward P/E of 16, and a PEG ratio of a minuscule 0.36. With patent cliffs remaining challenging for Big Pharma, Exelixis, in addition to potentially notching a win with CheckMate 9ER, might find itself as a buyout candidate in 2020.

A person inserting a credit card into a reader in a retail store.

Image source: Getty Images.

7. StoneCo

Although Warren Buffett is best known for buying value stocks, the fastest-growing stock in Buffett’s portfolio (at least from a revenue perspective), StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE), could be primed to double in 2020.

StoneCo isn’t exactly a household name, but this $10 billion payment solutions and business management software developer is finding plenty of interest for its fintech offerings in Brazil. During the second quarter, which StoneCo reported in mid-August, the company saw total payment volume for its merchants rise 61% year over year, while active clients increased 80% to 360,200 from the prior-year period. Since Brazil remains largely underbanked, there’s a long-tail opportunity for StoneCo to make its mark with small-and-medium-sized businesses in the country.

StoneCo is also investing heavily into its software subscription model. On a sequential quarterly basis, subscribed clients more than doubled to approximately 70,000 in Q2 from 32,000 in Q1 2019. While StoneCo won’t appear cheap in 2020 due to its aggressive reinvestment strategy, its Wall Street-estimated top-line growth rate of 38% may have enough firepower to double this stock.

The facade of the Planet 13 SuperStore in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Image source: Planet 13.

8. Planet 13 Holdings

Although legalizing marijuana across the U.S. would make life easier for vertically integrated multistate operators (MSO), it’s not exactly a problem for Planet 13 Holdings (OTC:PLNHF), which approaches its seed-to-sale model a bit differently than other MSOs.

Planet 13 is all about creating the most unique experience imaginable for cannabis consumers. The company’s SuperStore in Las Vegas, Nevada, just west of the Strip, spans 112,000 square feet and will feature a pizzeria, coffee shop, events center, and consumer-facing processing site. At 112,000 square feet, it’s the largest dispensary in the U.S., and is actually 7,000 square feet bigger than the average Walmart. The company is also developing a second location that’ll open next year in Santa Ana, Calif., just minutes from Disneyland.

Aside from its sheer size and selection, Planet 13’s transparency and technology stand out. The company is utilizing self-pay kiosks in its stores to facilitate the payment process, and provides monthly updates on foot traffic and average paying ticket size for investors. Maybe most striking, Planet 13 has about 10% of Nevada’s entire cannabis market share. It could have its investors seeing green in 2020.

An up-close view of a shiny one ounce silver ingot.

Image source: Getty Images.

9. First Majestic Silver

Precious-metal mining isn’t exactly known as a high-growth industry. However, following years of conservative spending, and after witnessing gold and silver spot prices soar in 2019, miners like First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) are suddenly sitting pretty.

Even before gold and silver moved higher by a double-digit percentage in response to falling U.S. Treasury yields, First Majestic was making waves. In May 2018, it closed a deal to acquire Primero Mining and its flagship San Dimas mine. Between incorporating the low-cost San Dimas into its portfolio, and looking at ways to bolster its existing assets (e.g., modifying the roasting circuit at its La Encantada mine to add up to 1.5 million ounces of silver production per year), First Majestic has seen its silver equivalent ounce (SEO) production grow from 16.2 million ounces in 2017 to perhaps north of 26 million SEO in 2019.

First Majestic should also benefit from a return to historic norms in the gold-to-silver ratio (i.e., the amount of silver it takes to buy one ounce of gold). Historically, the gold-to-silver ratio has hovered around 65, but is currently at closer to 84. This would suggest silver has the potential to outperform gold in the intermediate-term; and no mining company has greater exposure to silver as a percentage of total revenue than First Majestic Silver.

A veterinarian with a stethoscope around her neck examining a small white dog.

Image source: Getty Images.

10. Trupanion

According to the American Pet Products Association, an estimated $75.4 billion will be spent on our pets in 2019, with $19 billion alone on veterinary care. Given that 63.4 million U.S. households have a dog, and 42.7 million have a cat, the opportunity for the pet insurance market is huge. That’s where Trupanion (NASDAQ:TRUP) comes in.

Trupanion is a provider of lifelong insurance policies for cats and dogs. Like any insurance company, Trupanion is built for long-term profitability. Most insurers offer predictable cash flow and have exceptional pricing power, which is a necessity if they’re to cover claims. But Trupanion is going where few insurers have gone before. U.S. and Canadian pet insurance market penetration is just 1% and 2%, respectively, which is providing some learning curve bumps along the way, but also giving Trupanion an incredibly long runway to growth.

Trupanion is currently unprofitable, but it appears close to turning the corner to profitability. Sales grew by 26% in the second quarter, and are expected to romp higher by 20% in 2020, according to Wall Street. If the company continues to find success with referrals, it’s very possible it could surprise in the earnings column next year.

A hacker wearing black gloves who's typing on a keyboard.

Image source: Getty Images.

11. Ping Identity

What do you get when you combine some of the hottest tech trends into one company? None other than identity solutions provider Ping Identity (NYSE:PING), which recently IPO’d in September.

While there are plenty of cybersecurity providers, Ping’s uniqueness derives from its use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to attempt to identify users and computers as trusted. Being able to operate within the confines of traditional enterprise networks, or being tasked with securing cloud networks, Ping offers an assortment of products that should be able to meet the needs of small, medium, and large-scale businesses. Not surprisingly, it should be capable of double-digit sales growth in the near-term, like its peers.

What also can’t be overlooked in the fast-growing security space is that Ping’s valuation is a modest $1.3 billion. After being acquired by private equity firm Vista Equity for $600 million in 2016, Ping delivered a doubling of that value in three years, following its IPO. This demonstrates the potential of focused individual security, and makes it all the more likely that Ping Identity could be quickly scooped up by a larger rival.

A woman checking her blood glucose readings on a connected device.

Image source: Livongo Health.

12. Livongo Health

As you’ve probably caught on by now, this list of stocks that could double in 2020 is full of disruptors, and Livongo Health (NASDAQ:LVGO) certainly fits the bill.

Livongo is a developer of solutions that helps people change their health habits. By supplying testing kits that connect to smartphones, and utilizing data science, Livongo works to change the behavior of diabetics, and can also be used to assist patients with hypertension. Given that over 30 million people have diabetes (most being type 2 diabetics), and a number of these folks could use some serious help managing their symptoms, Livongo Health’s products are exactly the disruptor needed in this space.

According to the company’s second-quarter results, the number of clients in Livongo’s ecosystem nearly doubled on a year-over-year basis to 720, while the number of enrolled diabetes members did more than double to 192,934. More importantly, Livongo’s triple-digit sales growth rate cannot be overlooked. While profits are highly unlikely in 2020, a year of market-topping revenue growth is very possible.

An assortment of couch sectionals pushed together in a living room.

Image source: Lovesac.

13. Lovesac

When the calendar changes to 2020, relax, put your feet up, and let small-cap Lovesac (NASDAQ:LOVE) do the heavy lifting for your portfolio.

Lovesac, the home furnishings company that sells beanbag chairs, sectional couches, and a host of other in-home decorations, has struggled in 2019 amid trade-war concerns. It’s been hit hard by higher tariff costs, and that’s clearly brought investor worry to the forefront.

However, a quick look at Lovesac’s second-quarter operating results should relieve most worries. By passing along modest price hikes to consumers, as well as reducing its reliance on China from 75% to 44% of its manufacturing, the company has, in a very short time frame, reduced the impact of the trade war going forward.

What’s more, these price hikes don’t appear to be adversely impacting the company’s fast-growing and niche furnishings business. Lovesac reiterated full-year sales growth of 40% to 45%, with comparable store sales growth coming in at 40.7% in the second quarter, and noted that new customers and repeat clients are driving growth. Although profitability is still probably two years away, sales growth of at least 40%, with a price-to-sales ratio of right around 1, could be more than enough to send this stock rocketing higher.

A lab researcher in a white coat holding a vial of blood in his left hand while reading from a blue clipboard in his right hand.

Image source: Getty Images.

14. Amarin

The biotech industry is always a good bet for a volatility, and Ireland-based Amarin (NASDAQ:AMRN) might have a real shot to grow from a midcap to a large-cap valuation in 2020 thanks to its lead drug, Vasecpa.

Vascepa, a purified fish oil derivative, was approved by the FDA all the way back in 2012 to treat patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia (SHTG). But it’s not Vascepa’s potential in treating SHTG patients that’s got Wall Street excited. Rather, it’s a supplemental new drug application stemming from a five-year Harvard study in 8,179 people with milder (but still high) triglyceride levels. The results showed that Vascepa lowered the aggregate risk of heart attack, stroke, and death in these patients by 25%. In other words, if Vascepa were to be approved for an expanded label indication to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, its potential pool of patients could grow tenfold, as would its sales potential.

Later this month, on Nov. 14, an AdCom meeting will take place to discuss Amarin’s marketing application for Vascepa, as well as to vote on whether or not the members of the committee favor approval. By January 2020, at the latest, Amarin should have the FDA’s official decision on Vascepa (the FDA isn’t required to follow the AdCom’s vote, but it often does). If I were a betting man, I’d count on positive reviews all around.

A large city canvased by blue dots, representative of a wirelessly connected society.

Image source: Getty Images.

15. CalAmp

In Aug. 2018, Bain & Co. predicted that the Internet of Things global market would more than double from $235 billion in spending to $520 billion in just four years’ time (between 2017 and 2021). That global opportunity is too lucrative to overlook for small-cap CalAmp (NASDAQ:CAMP).

CalAmp, which provides software and subscription-based services, as well as cloud platforms that support a connected economy, has been hurt in recent quarters by the trade war with China, as well as sales weakness in its Telematics segment that’s been tied to a few core customers. However, CalAmp has reduced its Telematics product sourcing from China to around 50% from 70% to 80% earlier in the year, thereby minimizing the pain it feels from the trade war. Also, a number of customers blamed for its sales slowdown in Telematics (e.g., Caterpillar) are on the cusp of ramping up production as upgrades are made from 3G to 4G.

As Telematics growth picks back up, the company has seen record sales from its software subscription segment. Sales rose 65% year over year in the latest quarter, and now account for a third of total quarterly revenue. In short, the CalAmp growth story is just getting started, and 2020 could feature some very favorable year-on-year comparisons.

A female physician high-fiving a young child sitting on her mother's lap.

Image source: Getty Images.

16. Aimmune Therapeutics

Another biotech stock with a potential first-mover advantage in 2020 is Aimmune Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AIMT).

Aimmune’s lead drug is Palforzia, an oral drug that’s designed to lessen the symptoms associated with peanut allergy in children and teens. There is no FDA drug currently approved to treat peanut allergy in adolescents, and an estimated 4% to 6% of all children in the U.S. have some form of allergy to peanuts.

Now, here’s the great news: Palforzia looked like a star in late-stage clinical trials. Patients aged 4 to 17 were administered increasingly larger doses of peanut protein during the study, and 67.2% taking Palforzia completed the study without needing to discontinue the trial. This compared to a mere 4% on the placebo who completed the trial.

More good news: Palforzia has already been given the thumbs up by the FDA’s Allergenic Products Advisory Committee. Even though the FDA isn’t required to follow the vote of its panel of experts, it does so more often than not. It appears likely that Palforzia will get a green light in January, and it could be on track for more than $470 million in annual sales (by Wall Street’s consensus) by 2022. With other treatments in development for egg and walnut allergies, Aimmune looks well on its way to carving its own niche in the biotech space, and potentially doubling its stock in 2020.

Oil and gas pipeline leading to storage tanks.

Image source: Getty Images.

17. Antero Midstream

Midstream is the unsung hero of the energy infrastructure space. While drillers retrieve fossil fuels and refiners process them, it’s midstream providers that are the essential middlemen providing transmission, storage, and a host of other services that ensure these products make it to refineries for processing. Antero Midstream (NYSE:AM) may be just one of many midstream operators in the U.S., but it also might hold the distinction of being the cheapest and most likely to rebound in 2020.

Antero Midstream acts as the middleman for Antero Resources, a producer of natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) operating out of the Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale region in the Appalachia. This region is known for its natural gas and NGL production, which is worth noting given that LNG demand in North America could quadruple between 2018 and 2030, according to estimates from the McKinsey Energy/Insights Global Energy perspective model. This should provide a solid foundation of fee-based revenue for Antero Midstream.

Antero Midstream also recently announced a $300 million share repurchase program, suggesting that its board feels its stock is too cheap. If fully executed, this share buyback would remove about 8% of the company’s outstanding shares, and it shouldn’t impact the company’s jaw-dropping, yet seemingly sustainable, 17% dividend yield. Including this payout, Antero Midstream could very well double next year.

A gloved individual holding a full vial and dropper of cannabinoid-rich liquid in front of a hemp plant.

Image source: Getty Images.

18. MediPharm Labs

Marijuana stocks throughout Canada have suffered through supply issues since day one of adult-use legalization more than one year ago. But one ancillary niche that should be immune to these struggles is extraction services. The company you’ll want to know in this space is MediPharm Labs (OTC:MEDIF).

Extraction-service providers like MediPharm take cannabis and hemp biomass and produce resins, distillates, concentrates, and targeted cannabinoids for their clients. These are all used in the creation of high-margin derivatives, such as edibles and infused beverages, which were just legalized in Canada on Oct. 17, and will hit dispensary shelves in a little over a month. Since derivatives offer much juicier margins than dried cannabis flower, demand for cannabis and hemp extraction services should remain strong.

What’s more, extraction providers like MediPharm often secure contracts ranging from 18-to-36 months, leading to highly predictable cash flow. With MediPharm’s Barrie, Ontario, processing facility eventually on its way to 500,000 kilos of annual processing potential, and the company already profitable, it would not be the least bit surprising if MediPharm doubled in 2020.

A woman opening up a personalized box of clothing.

Image source: Stitch Fix.

19. Stitch Fix

Even high growth stocks can hit a rough patch; just ask the shareholders of online apparel company Stitch Fix (NASDAQ:SFIX). Following poorly received fourth-quarter results and weaker-than-expected sales guidance for the first quarter, Stitch Fix is a lot closer to its 52-week low than 52-week high at this point. However, things could change in a big way in 2020.

For starters, Stitch Fix is a potential retail disruptor that can capitalize on consumers in two ways. First, there’s the subscription side of the business that includes a stylist who picks outfits and accessories out for customers, who then to decide to keep (buy) or return these items. Secondly, but more recently, Stitch Fix has also been finding success with its direct buy program, which allows its members to skip the stylist and purchase highly curated and personalized product directly off its website. The company believes this dual-growth approach will play a key role in revenue growth reacceleration. It’s worth noting that despite its fourth-quarter report being poorly received by Wall Street, active clients grew 18% to 3.2 million from the prior-year period.

Stitch Fix is also planning to expand its offerings to men and children, and would be expected to bolster advertising as these new lines roll out. The company pointed out in its most recent quarter that fiscal first-quarter sales guidance is weaker because it lifted its foot off the gas pedal with regard to advertising. That’s an easy fix that should have Stitch Fix mending its weakness pretty quickly in 2020.

A white prescription generic drug tablet with a dollar sign stamped on it.

Image source: Getty Images.

20. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

Not every stock that doubles has to be growing at 20%, 30%, or more, per year. Sometimes, it just requires Wall Street and investors to readjust their outlook.

Brand-name and generic drug giant Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE:TEVA) has had a miserable go of things for nearly four years. A combination of generic-drug pricing weakness, opioid lawsuits, bribery allegations, high debt levels, and the shelving of its once-hefty dividend, have sunk Teva’s stock by almost 90%. But a renaissance of sorts may be on the horizon.

You see, Teva lost more than half of its value in 2019 after 44 U.S. states sued the company, and many of its related peers, over the manufacture and sale of opioids. However, Teva appears to be making progress on these lawsuits by offering free medicine to select states, and, more importantly, not having to outlay much of its precious cash. If these opioid suits are resolved, it’s not crazy to think Teva regains pretty much all of the ground it lost when they were announced.

At the same time, Teva’s turnaround specialist, CEO Kare Schulze, has reduced annual operating expenses by $3 billion and lowered net debt by $8 billion in a couple of years. Teva has the potential to really change some opinions in 2020, and that could lead to a doubling in its share price.

A man in a tie who's holding a stopwatch behind an ascending stack of coins.

Image source: Getty Images.

Don’t forget the most important “secret” to wealth creation

While it’s possible that many, or only a small number, of these 20 companies doubles next year, the important thing for investors to remember is that great ideas often take time to develop. The grandiose secret to wealth creation isn’t going to be found by day-trading or trying to time the market. Rather, it’s discovered by investing in high-quality businesses that you believe in, and allowing your investments to grow for five, 10, or even 20 years, if not longer.

It can be fun to predict next year’s top performers and potentially find yourself a proverbial gold mine, but don’t take your eyes off the horizon, which is where the big money is being made.

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Source: https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/11/11/20-stocks-that-could-double-your-money-in-2020.aspx

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GROWTH STOCKS THAT WILL DOUBLE YOUR MONEY! Stocks that will double your money. Top Stocks To Buy for 2020. Analysts forecast that over the long term Disney could potentially reach 160 Million Subscribers. Even with all those potential customers $7 per subscriber will translate into huge income for Disney. If Disney hit 50 million subscribers, that would generate revenue of between $3 billion and $5 billion in the first full year alone. At 160 million subscribers, we’re talking between $9 billion and $13 billion annually. To put that into perspective, Disney produced $59 billion in fiscal 2018. If Disney were to achieve these estimates, it could increase its revenue by between 5% and 7% in the first year and could eventually boost its top line by between 16% and 22%. Hulu Is Growing Faster Than Netflix The streaming service released some end-of-year numbers. Hulu ended 2018 with over 25 million subscribers. That’s more than 8 million more than last year and a 48% year-over-year increase. That’s better growth than Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) on both a relative and absolute basis in the United States. For reference, Netflix added 5.7 million U.S. subscribers in the 12 months ended in September.Is Disney Stock A Buy? DISNEY STOCK 2019| DISNEY STOCK ANALYSIS (Top Growth Stocks 2019). Costco Stock|Disney Stock| Growth Stock Investing 2019. Costco Net sales totaled $138 billion, an increase of 9.7 percent, with a comparable sales increase of 9 percent. Net income for the 52-week fiscal year was $3.134 billion, or $7.09 per share, an increase of 17 percent. Revenue from membership fees increased 10.1 percent to $3.142 billion.In 2018, Costco reached a milestone with 750􏰀􏰁 warehouse locations. Fiscal 2018 expansion included the opening of 21 new warehouses around the globe, the 100th location in Canada. Costco continues adding gas stations and other ancillary services to locations in different countries. In 2019, Costco expects to open 23 new warehouses and relocate up to 4 warehouses to more ideal locations. Growth Stock Investing. Dividend Stock Investing. Undervalued Stocks 2019. Best Stocks 2019. Top Stocks 2019. Stock Market. Stocks. Best Growth Stocks 2019. Best Growth Stocks 2019. Best Growth Stocks to buy 2019. Top Growth stock picks 2019. Best technology stocks to buy 2019. Top investments 2019. Best investments 2019. Best stocks to buy and hold forever. Top stocks to buy 2019. #stocks #stockmarket #investing

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Last Week Confirms It. Goodbye, Recession – Hello, Bull Market

marketingscoopsLeave a Comment on Last Week Confirms It. Goodbye, Recession – Hello, Bull Market

 

It is time to get excited, optimistic and bullish. Last week put the final nails in the “Oh, woe is me” recession coffin. RIP.

Last week’s good news supported and confirmed recent anti-negative and pro-positive improvements. Here is the wonderful list:

Earnings reports are driving a shift to the positive

Compare these two headlines from The Wall Street Journal:

  • October 9: “U.S. Earnings Flash a Worrying Signal”
  • November 2: “Earnings Tide Lifts Most Stocks – Investors are getting a more positive picture of American corporations’ health than that painted by analysts in buildup to earnings season”
Today In: Money

The cause? Earnings reports continue to be positive on balance, with most of the September quarter-end earnings reports now in. The 336 S&P 500 companies reporting September results so far (from October 15 through November 1) represent 67% of the 500 companies and 75% of the $27T market capitalization. (Many of the remaining 164 companies will report October or November quarter-end results later.)

While reports of companies beating expectations are widespread, a good way to view investors’ complete evaluation is by examining stock performance. Below is a graph of the one-month returns (including dividend income) for all of the 336 reporting companies. I have broken out the so-called “safe” stocks (REITs and utilities) because they have been beneficiaries of both reduced interest rates and bearish thinking – therefore, expect them to underperform.

Clearly, Wall Street views this earnings report season as favorable. Additionally, the need and desire for “safe” stocks has given way to the pursuit of growth.

The Federal Reserve cuts and quits

Finally! While rates remain abnormally low (meaning there is music to be faced in the future), at least the game of will-they-or-won’t-they looks over for now. That is helpful because businesses, consumers and investors now can make decisions based on a stable rate environment.

GDP growth is just fine

A good example of how negativity can take time to turn positive is the last week’s third quarter GDP growth report. Expectations had been for a seasonally adjusted, real (adjusted for inflation), annualized rate of 1.6%, down from 2% last quarter. Instead, it came in at 1.9%. That is good news, but most reports focused on the “continued slowing” instead of the desirable surprise.

Think of that report this way. For a quarter that had its problems, growth was still around 2%, in line with the average post-recession growth rate. Looking at a longer time period provides a good perspective for that 1.9% growth rate.

Employment and consumer spending are good

The recession pundits keep expecting these shoes to drop, but they do not. The problem is the factors leading up to reduced employment are absent. Following, so long as consumers are employed, they will spend. Therefore, in spite of that previous sharp drop in consumer confidence, consumer spending has remained strong and consumer confidence has improved.

The Wall Street Journal’s November 2 lead story (print edition) says it best: “Jobs, Consumers Buoy Economy, Defying Slowdown Across Globe.”

The bottom line

Last week offered an outstanding combination of good news that removes recession pessimism and reintroduces growth optimism for 2020. Stock ownership (excluding “safe” stocks) continues to look desirable.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

John S. Tobey

During my 30-year career, I managed and consulted to multi-billion dollar funds. Using the “multi-manager” approach, I worked with leading investment managers. I now manage personal accounts and write about my analysis and decisions. … From my 50-year personal/professional investment experience, I developed the skills I use to find opportunities and avoid risks. Because markets are ever changing, I choose the strategies (safety, income, value and growth) that conditions warrant. … My one regular activity is to seek developments and trends being ignored or misinterpreted by investors. These are the situations that consistently produce higher return opportunities (or higher risk levels). … I am a CFA charterholder with an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS in Finance from San Diego State University. I am a former Washington DC CFA board member and currently serve on the AAUW Investment Advisers Committee and the City of Vista Investment Advisory Committee. … For more, please see my LinkedIn bio at http://www.linkedin.com/in/johntobeycfa

Source: Last Week Confirms It. Goodbye, Recession – Hello, Bull Market

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Traders Jon and Pete Najarian are joined by Sarat Sethi, managing partner at Douglas C. Lane & Associates, and Anastasia Amoroso, global investment strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, to discuss calls on Netflix, Apple and Juniper Networks.

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Now That Commissions Are Free, Here’s How To Avoid The Big Costs Of Investing

marketingscoopsLeave a Comment on Now That Commissions Are Free, Here’s How To Avoid The Big Costs Of Investing

TRADE FOR FREE! NO COMMISSIONS! Sounds too good to be true? Well, it is and it isn’t. Allow me to explain.

Within the past few weeks, a slew of brokerage firms reduced the rate their customers pay for online stock and ETF trades. In fact, they reduced them to dust. Interactive Brokers (IB) started it. Schwab joined in. Then, the cavalry arrived. Many of the largest firms followed suit in different forms. They joined IB, Schwab and the many robo-advisors who have offered free trading for a while.

What does it all mean for you?

Let’s start with the simplest part. Whether you trade your own accounts, or a professional advisor manages your assets, there is a very good chance your costs to execute trades has been reduced. It might even be zero.

However, that does not mean that investing is now “free.” It never was. Now, I know what you are thinking. You don’t use mutual funds, and you don’t use ETFs. So, your returns are not reduced by those “expense ratios” that are embedded in managed funds. If you buy and sell individual stocks, that is true.

You may also point out that you have most of your assets in tax-deferred accounts, such as an IRA or your 401(k) plan. Again, you are correct in assuming that you will not be taxed on those assets until you take them out or reach age 70 1/2. So far, investing sounds pretty darn inexpensive to me!

Today In: Money

The real costs of investing

One of the most frustrating things to me after more than 3 decades in the investment business is how quickly people jump at the chance to get something for “free” without considering the whole picture. Zero commissions on stock and ETF trades is just the latest example.

Trading, execution (how good a price you get when you place an order with a brokerage firm), and expense ratios get all the hype in the “race to the bottom” that is today’s big Wall Street.

Taxes…and how Wall Street tries to make them exciting

Taxes get some respect as a cost to reckon with. However, here too, the industry (especially the Robo firms) has created unnecessary drama by touting something call “tax loss harvesting (TLH).” This is something many of us in the field have done religiously for taxable client accounts for years. And we have done so with a focus on each client’s specific tax situation.

Now, firms will put your account on an automated system that hyper-actively swaps you from one security to another similar one, in order to generate a constant stream of tax losses. These can be posted against gains to reduce your tax bill. Great in theory.

TLH does not mean TLC

However, from the live examples I have seen, these TLH programs crowd out some very good investment strategy work. This would take an entirely separate article to explain. Perhaps I will post one.

For now, suffice it to say that in some instances, investment firms are charging an extra fee for something that is potentially overkill. That same service can be done more carefully and inexpensively as custom work for each client. It is just one of those things that you need to be aware of.

In an era of zero commissions, these for-profit firms are not going to find other ways to profit. In no way am I saying they don’t provide a helpful service. Just don’t get caught up in the hype.

Money market rates…also going to zero?

For example, the interest rate paid on money market funds at brokerage firms is, shall we say, in a bear market. That is, the rates are plunging. This is because brokerages are returning to one of their most profitable business, now that short-term interest rates have popped up from 0%.

For example, if T-bills yield 1.50%, you would hope that the money market fund that is used to sweep cash in and out of when you trade would pay somewhere in that range. Check carefully. Many firms have dropped those rates so that they are way, way lower than T-bills.

Cash management: the new tool in your toolbox?

That does not mean that it is a bad deal for you. If you trade actively, and don’t hold a high cash balance anyway, your interest in dollar terms is quite tiny to begin with. But if this is not the case, perhaps you are better off sharpening your skills as a “cash manager.”

I know I have done this in the accounts I manage over the past year. There are ETFs that invest in short-term, high-quality bonds like Treasuries. And, now that there is no commission cost to trade them through many firms, they may be worth considering as a money market surrogate.

The BIG cost of investing that gets too little attention

Drum roll, please…its lousy performance in down markets. Or, as David Letterman said, its all fun and games until someone loses an eye. So, amid all of the excitement about how little it will cost you to “play the market” with no trading costs and low expense ratios, there is still an issue. If the stock market drops 20%, 30%, 40% or more, you had better have a plan.

And, the plan can’t be to figure it out on the fly. Ask the folks who were suddenly faced with that in 2000 and 2007, the winds shifted. We all want to get our “fair share” of the ups. But when markets freak out and $20 of every $100 you had in your portfolio can potentially vanish in a few weeks (as stock index funds did around this time last year), lack of risk-management becomes the only cost that matters.

To try to put a bow on this cost discussion, consider the following if you have $500,000 to invest, and you are not a day trader, nor a straight buy-and-hold investor:

* The cost of 40 trades a year used to be about $5 each. That’s $200 a year you saved, with commissions going to zero.

* You switched to index funds from active funds, and maybe mixed in some stocks. Let’s say that shaved your portfolio expense ratio from 1.00% to 0.20%. You saved $4,000 on that $500,000 portfolio.

* Taxes: you generated capital gains of $30,000, but used TLH to knock that down to $10,000. Assuming a 30% tax rate, you saved $6,000 in taxes. This is getting better and better!

Minimal risk-management: the market fell by 20%, and you escaped with “only” a 18% loss. But that’s still a $90,000 decline in the portfolio! If you had practiced risk-management using some of the techniques I discussed in recent articles (tactical positioning, options, inverse ETFs, etc.), you might have kept that loss to half that.

Naturally, everyone’s situation and objectives are different. However, the key is to recognize the relative impact of the different types of investment “cost.” In the examples above, the cost of trading was well under 1%. The impact of expense ratio was a bit under 1%. TLH helped (assuming you had gains to offset with losses), to the tune of just over 1%.

However, risk-management can be “worth” well over 1%. That’s the point, and what you should focus on when evaluating your total “cost” of investing.

Comments provided are informational only, not individual investment advice or recommendations. Sungarden provides Advisory Services through Dynamic Wealth Advisors

To read more, click HERE

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.

Rob Isbitts

I am an investment strategist and portfolio manager for high net worth families with over 30 years of industry experience. A thought-leader, book author and founder of a boutique investment advisory firm in South Florida. My work for Forbes.com aims to break investment myths and bring common sense analysis to my audience. Connect with me on Linked In, follow me on Twitter @robisbitts. Visit our website at http://www.SungardenInvestment.com.  What do you think? I welcome your questions and feedback at rob@sungardeninvestment.com. For more on this and related topics, click here.

Source: Now That Commissions Are Free, Here’s How To Avoid The Big Costs Of Investing

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https://www.sbmoneytips.com/ Learn the first secret of successful investing with Part I of our three-part series! *** Did you know that the average individual investor does worse in the stock market than the market itself? In other words, if you just held a broad index fund and did nothing but hold on until you hit retirement you would do better than most. It turns out that the problem has nothing to do with a lack of market savvy or anything like that. Instead, it has everything to do with human emotions. Once you learn the enemy you can master it! So let’s take a quick look in the mirror and get acquainted with our opponent! The first secret is simply to invest as soon as you can. Don’t sit on the sidelines! Start now and let compounding do the heavy lifting over time. Make the effort to learn something new: like how to set up an account and put some money to work. Either do it on line or call one of the big brokerages. You’ll be richly repaid for your efforts! The next secret is to avoid being too conservative when investing for long-term goals. Many people are reluctant to invest in the stock market because they are afraid they’ll lose money. And they’re right – they will! But allow enough time and the results come back to the long term averages. Take a look at this chart showing the S&P500’s results from 2007 through 2015. That drop in 2008-2009 was pretty terrifying – I know! I personally lost over a third of my money in it! And it was really uncomfortable. But look what happened after that. It took several years but the market came back and is now well above where it was before the great recession. The right thing to do is to stay the course. Invest when you have money to do so and only sell when you need the money. This is really important. Hang on when you’re in the middle of one of these lurches and don’t sell or change your game plan.

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